K-4, Raise Hands or Call Out?

Hi. I'm new here, and my username describes it all: I LOVE substituting, when things go well, but often HATE it, when I feel I'm not controlling the kids, and the clock doesn't seem to move!

Other teachers often "bark" at the kids, and I want to be more pleasant than that, but then find I may get walked over.... Lots of fodder there for discussion, but for now, I'd like to ask....

Is there a half-way point between having K-4 kids raise their hands to answer, and calling out? I like to "discuss" the subjects and have kids just answer, then find they're all calling out at once, some with distracting commments. Then it's a new rule, raise hands before speaking (even though it slows the discussion and can get boring for everyone). Then one or two will still call out, then it's a warning, the discussion becomes a battle of wills, and I start hating the whole process. HELP!

My personal opinion is that if you want to maintain order, you need to have them raise their hands instead of calling out. Once the calling out starts, chaos follows and it becomes very difficult to continue or re-establish order. This goes at any grade level.

High school students are more capable of a discussion, but even at the middle school level, having too much "vocal freedom" can have bad results. ;-)

Personally, I always have students raise their hands when we are discussing anything because as you said, it gets out of hand. It may slow the discussion down a bit but it ensures that everyone gets an opportunity to speak and to be heard .

I spend most of my time subbing in the grade levels you are talking about (K-4) and find that many students have a hard time waiting their turn and tend to start talking before another student is finished, which is why I always have them raise their hands I go over this rule each and every time I sub

if its a question that I KNOW the WHOLE class will get the same answer...then I'll say "everybody" and let them all say the answer out loud.

If someone gives you a silly answer, quickly move on! Just say something like.."that was a silly answer...can someone help ___________ out and give me a good answer?" Don't let the kids have too much time to dwell on the silly answers or else control will be lost haha!

have popcile sticks w/ the kids names on them in a cup and you are to draw out of there, laying them aside. They only all go back in the cup when everyone has been called for something. I use it for everything including asking for answers, thoughts in a discussion, passing out papers, etc. In the upper levels I usually just take the role and seating chart and tick off who I have called on. (and yup you guessed it, sleeping kids go first)

When I teach, I vary and let them know: "raise hands" or "just call out" depending on the situation as radsub mentioned. Mostly raise hands. And no matter, there's always a few that call out, and will continue to do so, no matter how much you have talked about hand raising. I don't know if it's so much a battle of the wills as it is them learning impulse control. You just keep reminding them over and over and over and catch those moments when they do control themselves and reflect it back to them with both external and internal positive reinforcement. Of course, this a more long term than we usually see as subs.
A few strategies that I find successful are:
1. I find opportunities to ask a question and invite everyone to answer, one at a time, with a just one or two words, and we go really fast.
2. For more thoughtful discussions I break them into dyads or triads or table groups and have them discuss it amongst themselves. Then each group shares one thing.
3. I will write their words down, for example on a K-W-L chart, or perhaps a discussion about one topic. Something about seeing their thoughts written on the board is quite validating for children (and big people too) and it does bring down some of the wild energy to be heard.
4. The popscicle stick method mentioned by subczy works really well when it's in place. I haven't tried instituting it for the day, but I think I'll give it a try.
Good luck.

need to be raised to keep order. When working with a small group I will tell them that they don't need to raise their hands, that we can have a discussion, but they still raise their hands. It would be nice to let them just have a talk without raising hands, but it will never work.